Gun Violence Threats Cancel Asbury Park-Keansburg Football Game

ASBURY PARK, NJ — The Asbury Park school district had to cancel its homecoming football game, scheduled for Friday night, Oct. 7, due to threats of gun violence, said the school district in a statement.

The homecoming football game would have been against Keansburg, followed by a post-game homecoming celebration.

It was Keansburg High School school officials who received the threats of violence and decided to forfeit the game against Asbury Park.

"Out of an abundance of caution for our students, athletes, families, spectators and community-at-large, tonight’s previously scheduled homecoming celebration and game against Keansburg are canceled as a result of anonymous threats of violence," said the Asbury Park school district at mid-day Friday. "Keansburg officials notified Asbury Park High School Principal Bridget O’Neill earlier today that they will forfeit tonight’s match-up after Keansburg school officials received unspecified threats of violence concerning the impending game."

This comes after the Asbury Park varsity football almost did not play at all this season, as they did not have enough eligible players at the start of the season in September. And last year, Asbury Park's head football coach Nick Famularo, 26, was fired after he was discovered partially naked with a woman near the football stadium.

Famularo was sitting by the main door leading to the locker room, "holding what appeared to be a jersey covering the lower part of his body," according to the report filed by Asbury Park police and obtained by Patch.

"Nick was asked where his clothes were and he stated he did not know," the report continues.

Another coach soon after unlocked the locker room for further investigation, which yielded the discovery of "human feces on one of the rugs" and "vomit on ... the football jerseys, along with what appeared to be his pants and sneakers." Famularo was with a 31-year-old woman at the time of the incident.

"It is unfortunate that someone is stealing this opportunity from our students," continued the district on Friday. "These young people who were impacted by ineligibility earlier in the season have worked hard to get back in a position to participate in sports, so we don’t take this decision lightly. While unfortunate, this decision had to be made and is in the best interest of everyone’s safety."

Asbury Park schools said they will recognize their senior football players, cheerleaders and homecoming king, queen and court during the annual Asbury Park vs. Neptune football rivalry, in that longstanding Jersey Shore football game now held on Nov. 9.

The Asbury Park-vs.-Neptune game used to be held on Thanksgiving Day, but in 2017 that year's game had to be canceled and the date permanently changed after violence was threatened at the 2017 game.